JVC
RX-8020VBK
A/V Receivers

Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Ajndrews
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: October 10, 2009

Bottom Line:

Ive had this product since 2003 and it STILL works.. to despite what these other guys say this thing is STILL ALIVE and kicking.. Its been dropped, kicked around a bit when moved moved and it STILL works.. after 6 years. This was my 3rd decent reciever i have used as a modest one .. around $300 bucks at Ultimate Electronics in Fairview Heights, IL. I have it hooked up in my Living room for a 5.1 setup. All the features work with JVC products also.. like the onscreen w/e menu's for there tvs, But only for there brand of tv's. Its a tough lil unit. Unlike these other guys i havnt taken it apart cept a few times to clean out the dust. I think your supposed to get parts replaced on it BUT I HAVNT lol .

So if you need a solid working unit i recommend this one for the price under $350.. otherwise get a Denon or a Yamaha for over $600. However i bought this for $300 so dont get oversold make them mark it down.

Can not Bi-Wire with this unit although it has 2 speaker capability. Only plays one Treble when playing Speaker One - Does not play Speaker two (Base)on Bi-wire. Did a switch on Treble and Bass, same thing occured. Does not show 2 sets of speakers in display when Bi-wired. Have used Denon and Yamahaa and both receivers recognized Bi-Wiring.

Junk. I have had bad experiences with JVC products. They often have all of the bells and whistles but lack build quality and power. This was no exception. The features are great- DTS-ES, OSD, USB. It was the cheapest unit I could find with Pre-outs. I have always run a preamp and separates. I tried it without the parasound amp and it was pathetic. This is OK since I have no intention of using it independent of external amps. The build quality is poor. I opened the thing up because one channel keeps fading in and out and I wanted to see if a solder had broken (thingk that it is mechanical problem because knocking on the bottom makes the channel come in and out). As a took off the cover, the whole chassis twisted. Not a big deal if you never take off the cover, but a limp chassis does have a significant effect on mechanical connections- solder can break pretty easily. Moreover, the RCA connectors are all a bit loose from the chassis from periodic reconnection. Looking inside the first thing that I noticed was the lack of guts- not much there to produce power for 5 channels. The multiple PCBs are connected with weak junction blocks and they all creak and twist with the chassis. Lastly, in setting up the sound levels of each channel with a meter, All of the channels had to be set to different gain settings in order to match the output. I have not had a receiver (using an optical source) where pairs of outputs (L/R or SL/SR) needed different levels of gain. They have always been at least matched from left to right. Not a big deal, but indicative of the overall attention to detail.

I was not expecting anything other than what I got. I would not have bought this if I could have afforded a more expensive processor. I would not recommend this to anyone who intends to use the integrated amps. In spite of the fact that I knew I was buying a BUDGET component, I would have liked it to last more than a year+ for the $300 I spent. I still have a fisher quadrophonic set from the seventies that works.

I would rather just buy a different receiver than send this one out to be repaired.

I've had this for about 6 months and so far I haven't had any problems. I had trouble setting things up initially and had to call tech support a few times, What a waste of time that was. I finally figured out how to get things working. This is my 4th DD receiver, so I know what I'm doing when it comes to setup. The default settings on this thing made no sense whatsoever.

It sounds OK. Not great. Compared to other DD receivers, this is near the bottom in terms of sound quality. based on my past experience with JVC, I don't expect this thing to last more than 3 years.

My Marantz sounds much better than this so I can't rationalize giving this any more than 3 stars.

Bought this unit online. Great transaction and price!! Set the unit up in one afternoon--no problems. Played my copy of Ice Age ( OK I know it is animated ) and was blown away by sights and sounds. I have a 5.1 surround system and older Toshiba 32 inch TV so had to use the s-video connection. Had a 100W Pioneer prior and was forced to use "max" volume to drive the speakers... With this unit, half power works wonders!!! What a great unit for the dollar..